Wide-area communication service such as, for example, wireless wide area network (WWAN) or metropolitan area network (MAN) technology, enables users to receive and transmit data using mobile telecommunication and cellular network technologies such as, for example, WiMAX, UMTS, GPRS, and 3G. These cellular and mobile technologies can be offered regionally, nationwide, or globally, and can be provided by a wireless service provider or carrier, usually on a paid basis. A device with a wide-area communication service module can be enabled with wide-area communication connectivity, provided that the user of the device has some form of carrier service with the provider.
In addition to mobile handset devices, an increasing number of non-handset devices such as, for example, laptop computers, are being manufactured with integrated wide-area communication capability. The non-handset devices, like the mobile devices, need to be provisioned depending on the selected carrier to enable wide-area communication capability. Unlike many mobile handset devices, the manufacturer of a non-handset device may not know whether the end user of the device will want to pay for wide-area communication access or, if so, what carrier the user will employ in conjunction with the service.
Non-handset devices can have integrated multi-carrier modules which allow the devices to be manufactured without concern for carrier selection. A user can then select a carrier during the sales or distribution processes and the device can subsequently be provisioned. However, if the user does not select a carrier during the sales or distribution processes, then the device ends up with the user without having been provisioned. A problem results if the user later wishes to have wide-area communication capability because the user often does not have the capability to have the device provisioned.
A need therefore exists for systems and methods for end user provisioning.